Area: The Exhibition (Private Opening)

From the exhibition website: "Thirty years after its opening, AREA, the nightclub that defined the 1980s in New York City, and invented
the nightclub as "art", is celebrated with: AREA, a 387-page book published by Abrams, a week-long exhibit
at The Hole, a dance party at the Bowery Hotel, plus an AREA-themed window at Bergdorf Goodman.
The fabled nightclub opened its doors in September 1983 and virtually overnight it became the nexus of the
downtown scene in New York City. It was the place where people went to see and be seen. It was the
brainchild of four young guys from California -Eric Goode, Shawn Hausman, Christopher Goode and
Darius Azari. Their vision was to create an art project on a monumental scale. Every five or six weeks they
gutted the enormous space at 157 Hudson Street and transformed it into a spectacularly realized theme"

The exhibition was curated by Jeffrey Deitch and Kathey Grayson. This is Deitch's first NY project in 5 years. He says, "AREA was both a vital part of its timeand way ahead of its time in its experiential approach to art and its integration of art, music, fashion and performance." The exhibition goes through Nov 10th.

In April 1985 SRL was part of an ongoing mechanized installation at AREA staged as part of the Art Theme Exhibition. Video of that event can be found on the SRL YouTube channel see below:

Mark Pauline resurrected the Assassination Prop which is about the assassination of the Japanese Premiere Inejiro Asanuma in 1960 by a right wing student. More info on that here

Mark Pauline, wife Amy Critchett, and son Jake Eddie attended the opening which included works created for AREA by Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Sol Lewitt, Jenny Holzer, Chuck Close, SRL, etc.

Mark sets up the Assassination Prop, with Chuck Close seated in the first frame. All images and video from Mark Pauline

If you have images, videos, etc. you would like us to link to and/or give us high-resolution copies for our archives, please contact Karen Marcelo at